Thursday, September 29, 2016

(9-30-16) BLUES NOTEBOOK

By LOU KORACST. LOUIS -- Left wing Jaden Schwartz left practice early Thursday after a collision during a scrimmage at Scottrade Center.Schwartz was seen shaking his wrist as he departed.But Hitchcock didn't seem overly concerned that Schwartz, who signed a new five-year contract over the summer, would miss any significant time."He's fine," Hitchcock said. "He'll need a couple days off, but he's a lot like (Robby) Fabbri. He's not going to skate this weekend in any of the games, but we'll be ready to go next week with him."Day to day, so we'll be fine. ... It's training camp. It happens. It's just part of what goes on. You hope it's not serious and it's not serious. That's a good sign."A good sign that it's not serious came in the lightheartedness of teammate Vladimir Tarasenko. Teammates don't normally joke about injuries, but a good indication came from Tarasenko."What happened? I think he just don't like practice," Tarasenko joked. "Me and Jori was like, 'Hey, we have a smart linemate.' I don't know what's really happened, so I can't talk now."As for Fabbri, who's nursing an upper-body injury of his own, he missed practice again but is not expected to miss more than the weekend."He skated today, but we'll keep him out through the weekend here and continue to work with him," Hitchcock said. "Same with (Vince) Dunn, same with (Tommy) Vannelli. They all skated this morning. They're all getting close to being ready to play. I think we'll hold them out until they're 100 percent before we put them in to evaluate."* Tarasenko back from World Cup -- Tarasenko was on the ice with the Blues for the first time since representing Team Russia at the World Cup of Hockey.Russia advanced to the semifinals and lost to Canada 5-3."It's hard to talk about it right now," Tarasenko said. "We played two good periods and something was wrong in the third period, but they have a really good team. So, we lose to a good team. Of course we are all disappointed. It's hard to talk about it right now."Tarasenko, who led the Blues last season in goals (40) and points (74), both career highs, said he enjoyed his time in Toronto."Probably the atmosphere in the Russian locker room. It's really cool when you can meet your old friends and you know everybody there," Tarasenko said. "There's Russian language everywhere, Russian music. I think we have great team spirit and great atmosphere."But now Tarasenko is focused on improving the Blues' stance after advancing to the Western Conference Final last season after a good offseason."It was good. Short. I have a lot of stuff in my hometown and World Cup, it was a good experience for me," Tarasenko said. "I'm happy to be here.""I practiced with the national team for a while and then practiced with my hometown team and just by myself. So it was a long practice period, so now finally games start."* More cuts -- The Blues reduced their roster by four from 52 to 48 when they assigned forwards Jacob Doty, Mackenzie MacEachern and Justin Selman along with goalie Ville Husso to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL and released center Yan Stastny from his professional tryout.The Blues practiced with 37 players Thursday and also held out forwards Andrew Agozzino, Danny Kristo, Jordan Caron and Alex Friesen along with goalie Luke Opilka, who's recovering from off-season hip surgery.*Friday's lineup -- The Blues have released their lineup for Friday's home preseason game against the Dallas Stars, the Blues' fourth preseason game (2-1-0).Here's the lineup:Jori Lehtera-Paul Stastny-Scottie UpshallDavid Perron-Patrik Berglund-Ty RattieKenny Agostino-Dmitrij Jaskin-Magnus PaajarviSamuel Blais-Ivan Barbashev-T.J. GaliardiCarl Gunnarsson-Colton ParaykoPetteri Lindbohm-Robert BortuzzoChris Butler-Jordan SchmaltzJake Allen and Pheonix Copley